


All those things

by orphan_account



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child - Thorne & Rowling
Genre: Harry Potter Next Generation, Hogwarts, M/M, Slytherin Albus Severus Potter, Slytherin Scorpius Malfoy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-11
Updated: 2016-09-17
Packaged: 2018-08-08 04:49:20
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 12,580
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7743979
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>((taking a break)) Follow Albus Potter and Scorpius Malfoy as they are living their daily lives at Hogwarts, struggling with bullies and how their relation develops ~</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

 

**First year, 1st September**

Scorpius could clearly remember the first night at Hogwarts.

He was tired, completely exhausted. He was also full from eating tons of delicious foods. And he was happy.

For a moment, he had wished that the sorting hat wouldn't put him in Slytherin, just to make a further statement to the world that he and his father were different - however, he laid there at his bed, and it was soft and cuddly, and next to him was his first ever genuine friend, it honestly didn't matter that the sheets were green instead of any of the other house colours. He didn't really fancy yellow anyways.

"Hey, Scorpius? Are you asleep?" whispered Albus.

"No, I'm awake", he answered as he turned over to face his friend.

"I just thought... How are we going to find our way to the classes tomorrow? I knew the castle was huge, but I didn't imagine it to be _this_ big."

"Not to mention the castle changes its shape all the time..."

Scorpius thought about the things he had seen on his way down to the Slytherin dungeon. There was no possibility to rely on the portraits as they moved around, and neither the stairs. And the ghosts seemed to be a little too sneaky to ask.

"We'll just ask some older student, I suppose?" said Scorpius, "I don't think we need to worry that much."

"Yeah... you're right. Good night then."

"Mm. Good night."

Scorpius didn't fall asleep anyways, and if he wasn't wrong Albus stayed awake for quite a while too, but neither of them said anything more that night. They just listened to the silence of the dorm and thought about the eventful day that had just passed.

Just like most wizard-born kids in the UK Scorpius had thought many times about what his ride to Hogwarts, as well as his time at Hogwarts, would be like. He had heard so many stories, not only from his father, but from other people too. Times were different when his father was a student, but the school seemed to have remained quite the same, just not as messy considering that it wasn't a full scale war going on.

He usually acted like he didn't care about the loneliness that he faced, but secretly he had hoped to meet tons of new friends on the Hogwarts express who he would stay close with forever just like it seemed all Hogwarts students did. Though he knew those were unrealistic expectations considering that most people turned him away instantly after meeting when they figured he was a Malfoy, he couldn't help but to hope for them to become true.

Reality turned out a bit differently than his expectations, sure they did. But it was for the better.

 

When Scorpius eventually fell asleep the clock was way beyond midnight, something he would come to regret the next morning.

 

As the morning rised upon the land, all students started waking up, one by one, and the castle was once again brought to life. Most student were to a decent extent exited, though the seventh years a little less than the third years and the third years a little less than the first years, who were all so exited they could barely but on their uniforms properly.

"I think I remember the way to the Great Hall", said Scorpius.

"Good, because I don't", said Albus.

Albus stood in front of the mirror in the dorm and desperately tried to make his hair a little flatter.

"Do I look OK, Scorpius? Be honest with me", he said eventually and turned over to Scorpius, who was patiently sitting at his bed, waiting for Albus. All the others in the dorm had already left for breakfast.

Albus hair was still messy, but it suited him. His irregular hair strands put together with some freckles made Albus look playful and frankly quite cute. He wasn't actually short, but it was something about the way that his body looked in the huge Slytherin robe that made him look tinier - like a puppy in a big blanket.

"It's still a bit messy, but don't worry, you look fine", said Scorpius at last.

"Other people may complain about bad hair _days_ , but that's nothing! I have a bad hair _life_!" sighed Albus. Scorpius laughed at this and he wouldn't mind staying in the door talking to Albus all day, but he knew they had to get going in order to not be late to their first class. He grabbed Albus arm and started pulling him along toward the door.

 

There were still lots of people in the Great Hall, much to Scorpius grief since he had thought they were already late. They went over to the Slytherin table and sat down a bit away from some noisy fourth years.

They had just started eating their breakfast when someone walked up to them. It was Rose Granger-Weasley, the same girl who had come together with Albus yesterday. They didn't look much alike despite being cousins. Rose's hair was red, yet not fully as red as her fathers, and it was bushy like her mothers. While Albus looked like a puppy in a blanket who Scorpius just wanted to pet, she was almost scary due to her straight-forwardness. Scorpius didn't mind though. He knew how to deal with such people and actually found them quite entertaining.

"Albus", she said.

"Ah. 'morning Rose", said Albus.

"Still with Malfoy, huh?" she continued and gave Scorpius a disliking gaze.

"Yep", answered Albus, completely unbothered by her obvious hinting.

"Stop acting like this is nothing, Al! You know everybody's going to be furious about this! You better cut it out before they even find out. I know you're in Slytherin, but that doesn't mean you can't hang out with us Gryffindors, you know? Come back, please?" whined Rose.

Albus looked confused and rather upset. Scorpius didn't exactly know what to do, he just watched the two, finding it strangely amusing how they seemed to even forget he was sitting right there.

"What do you mean with 'come _back_ ', Rose? I was never with you guys to begin with, you know that too. I've always been different", said Albus.

"Albus, you know things are going to be so much more complicated if you do this!"

"Go away, Rose. You're annoying", Albus finished off of gave Rose a slight push away from himself.

She looked offended but decided to give up for now. She went back to the Gryffindor table where some other Weasleys waited for her, among them Albus older brother James. Albus looked at the bunch for a while. Scorpius couldn't tell if it was disgust or jealousy in his gaze, but he secretly hoped for disgust as that would mean Albus would stay with him for sure.

"You gotta give her some time, Scorpius. That's all", Albus said eventually and faced Scorpius.

"Oh, I'm okay. Don't worry", said Scorpius and smiled.

"No, really. Don't joke this off. Promise me that you will never listen to what she, or anybody else say, OK?"

Albus looked Scorpius straight on, right in the eyes. He really seemed to mean what he said. Scorpius nodded.

"You too then. You'll probably hear plenty of unpleasant things for being with me." Albus nodded too.

They finished their breakfast and headed off towards their first lesson, which was charms. Luckily they overheard some Ravenclaw first years who were also having charms this period, so they followed them up the stairs to the right classroom. To the Slytherins, whose common room was in the dungeon, this was their first time in the stairs of Hogwarts. Maybe that doesn't sound very exiting, but those stairs were after all an experience more eventful than most rollercoasters in the muggle world.

The stairs moved around, the portraits talked, and not too surprising they also got some company by the one and only Peeves who thought pranking poor first years was a fun hobby. Luckily they got away without any harm done and could continue to walk before they lost sight of the Ravenclaws.

"I thought Peeves didn't prank Slytherins", said Albus angrily.

"I guess nobody's safe."

"Is this it?"

They had reached a door and the Ravenclaws were gone, so they must have gone inside, Scorpius thought. Carefully he opened the door and peaked in. Inside there were plenty of green and blue coloured robes so it was assumable that they had finally found the charms classroom. Inside on the wall there was a clock, and they weren't actually late, but most other students seemed to be there already.

Scorpius and Albus walked in and sat down next to each other in the back of the room.

"Ah, mr Malfoy, mr Potter. I was just wondering when you'd show up", said professor Flitwick and sounded rather happy about it.

Albus and Scorpius however, were not amused by this sudden attention. All of a sudden there were whispers all around the classroom, and none of the boys were stupid, they knew way too well the whispers were about them.

"Everybody quiet! I know it's your first day, but let's start this lesson right off! This year we have plenty of useful charms to learn and I don't want you to miss out on any of them because you were talking away your time!" said the professor and so their first lesson at Hogwarts began.

 

The _Wingarium Leviosa_ -spell was already known to most wizard-born students, including Scorpius and Albus. They had seen their parents use the spell many times and Albus had experienced the true terrors of James using the it in his room (resulting in a complete mess as the spelled had hit the entire book shelf instead of just the single book that he wanted and also Harry and Ginny yelling their lungs out about that magic outside school is illegal).

" _Wingardium Leviosa!_ " said Albus and swung his wand, pointing it at the feather in front of him. Nothing happened," _Wingarium Leviosa!" he tried again._

Scorpius couldn't help but to giggle at Albus frustration but after trying several times himself, just to find the same result of nothing-ness, he became quite irritated himself too.

"How hard can it be? What am I doing wrong?" whined Albus, getting more desperate as the other student's feathers one by one lifted from the desks and went up in the air.

It wasn't until there was only ten minutes left of the lesson that Scorpius spell worked and the feather started flying. As for Albus, his feather did actually fly but only a few centimeters over the desk surface and only for a short moment before it caught on fire.

Albus wasn't the only one who whose first lesson had been a failure though. There were actually a lot of student who had the same disappointed facial expression as Albus on their way out of the classroom when the lesson had finished. Scorpius on the other hand was very proud of his success and felt delighted that he could now tell his father something that wouldn't upset him (how he was supposed to tell his father about befriending Harry Potters son remained an unsolved issue).

 

After the charms class they had potions and history of magic. Then it was time for lunch.

This time the Great Hall was crowded. It seemed like all students had their lunch at the same time, stupid enough. Albus and Scorpius had already figured that people had a lot of opinions and thoughts about their friendship, and those could of course not be kept to themselves, so in order to hear as little as possible of all the gossips they decided to sit at the very edge of the table, as far away from everybody else as possible.

"It must be nice to be muggleborn at times. Nobody in this entire world knows who you are", said Albus and shoved a piece of potato in his mouth.

"Sometimes indeed. But we are very privileged to be wizard-born though. It must be very hard to get adjusted to that your entire life has been a lie, right? Not to mention that there's plenty of people who will hate on you merely for the reason that you're muggleborn. It's an oppression I guess."

"Yeah... but still. You know what I mean."

"Of course I do. I admit I have thought the same thing several times myself too."

They continued to talk as they ate. They did overhear some bypassing Gryffindors talking about them, but other than that they had a rather pleasant lunch. 

 

The rest of the lessons went about as good as the ones before lunch. Nothing extra ordinary happened, but it went all okay. Nobody got hurt, much to Scorpius relief as he hated blood and injuries. All these new impressions and information made them tired though, so by the end of the day they just quietly walked down to the Slytherin dungeon and went straight to bed without chit-chatting anything before falling asleep.

The next morning they would wake up and repeat the same struggle as yesterday, the conflict about whether Albus hair was more important or time to eat breakfast. Scorpius pretended to be annoyed, but honestly... _the messy hair was just one of all those things that he loved about Albus._

 


	2. Chapter 2

**First year, 18th October**

Scorpius and Albus had adjusted fairly well to their lives at the school. It was n"o longer a challenge to get to their classes and they didn't struggle to tie their ties correctly in the morning. They had even adjusted to being stared at and people talking shamelessly about them even when they were right there.

Britain was getting chillier and some of the leaves had started to shift in flaming colours. Autumn was creeping ever closer, and along with that both the coziness and the bitterness. It rained more often, resulting in that several times when they had herbology and had to walk outside in order to get to the class, they arrived completely soaked and by the time they were finally dry again the lesson was already over and they had to get outside again. But drinking tea was on the other hand a whole lot more enjoyable when they were cold, wet and tired.

The 18th of October was one of those days.

Since the Slytherin dungeon was below ground level they didn't have any windows, sad enough - but the students of the other houses had woken up to the sound of raindrops smattering against the window glass. The rain had started to pour in the early morning and continued to do so for the entire day.

Their last lesson was history of magic and they sat in the back as usual and tried to be as unnoticeable as possible while professor Binns talked. Binns talked in a monotone, lifeless voice. Now, the thing about the voice being lifeless was understandable since he was after all dead since many centuries ago, but it was for sure still boring to listen to for an entire period.

Albus arms were spread over the desk and he rested his head on top with closed eyes. He wasn't asleep but he wasn't exactly paying attention either. In the beginning Scorpius had tried to pay attention, but not even his nerdy mind could find the slightest interest in what Binns was telling, so eventually he just gave up and rested on the desk like Albus.

Scorpius kept his eyes a little open, just enough to be able to peek at Albus.

Scorpius liked Albus freckles and for some reason he found a great interest in finding out how many of them there were. Of course it would have been utterly awkward to count while Albus noticed, but now he didn't have a clue so Scorpius took advantage of the situation and started counting. Most of them were located in his nose area, but there also some random dots in his forehead and on his chin. In difference to his mother Albus freckles were not very distinct and there wasn't a huge amount of them. If you didn't look closely you could actually miss that they were even there.

Scorpius had counted the small dots to be twenty-two when Albus suddenly sat up and interrupted the counting. Perhaps he had fallen asleep after all and just woke up.

"Huh?" whispered Scorpius.

"Isn't this class over yet? We've been here for ages!" complained Albus.

"Five more minutes to go..."

 

Albus and Scorpius had made themselves some tea in the Great Hall and were now carefully bringing the cups along down the stairs to the dungeon. They were sleepy from the boring class and slightly freezing. The castle was after all made out of stone which caused it to be rather cold if it was cold outside.

" _Broomstick_ ", said Albus and the common room opened up.

There were some groups of sofas and armchairs all around the room and in front of the open fire which sparked calmly right before them. Since the first years day usually ended before the older students the common room was still quite empty. Only some same aged classmates sat in the corner playing wizarding chess and two second years were doing their homework at the table. Scorpius and Albus didn't hesitate to sit down in the sofa in front of the fire since it was free for once.

Scorpius hadn't realized how tired his legs were from all the walking until he sat down in the comfortable sofa. If he didn't know the clock was only 5pm he could have fallen asleep right on the spot.

"I hate history of magic", said Albus and put the teacup to his lips.

"I don't hate history of magic. I just hate professor Binns", said Scorpius and they chuckled at the truth of the statement.

Scorpius drank some of his tea but it was still way to warm so he had to put the cup down again.

"You seem to hate all classes though", he said.

Albus thought for a moment before answering:

"Actually I don't. I just don't like what I don't understand. I don't have the same natural talent for learning as you do, you know?"

"Maybe I could help you out more with your homework in the future?" he suggested, feeling flattered by the compliment.

"If you don't mind, I'd appreciate it lots!"

Scorpius smiled and nodded. Then they both shut quiet again. It wasn't an awkward silence though. It was usually like that. They'd talk for a bit, but then take a break to just enjoy each others company without words.

Suddenly there were loud cheers from the other first years. A brown haired girl seemed to have won the chess game and her three friend were now getting two sickles each from the opposite team.

"Do you enjoy wizarding chess, Albus?" said Scorpius and nodded in the direction of the players.

"Nah. You know I don't like games..." he answered but still seemed to be off somewhere else in his mind. Scorpius didn't want to bother him so he didn't say anything more but just carefully sipped his tea and embraced the heat of the fire in front of them. It was frankly amazing how well the house elfes did their job at Hogwarts, and on top of that without even getting noticed. Never once had Scorpius seen the elfes even though he had been at the castle every day for more than a month now!

Suddenly Albus awoke from his thoughts.

"I can't concentrate at anything. I need some dinner", he said and raised from the sofa.

"Hm.. okay. I'll come along", said Scorpius, swallowed the last of his tea and followed Albus out of the common room. They made their way back to the Great Hall and sat down at the Slytherin table. The dinner was already served but there were barely any people there.

They started putting things on their plates. Scorpius had enjoyed almost every meal at the school so far - again - what an amazing job of the house elfes.

As soon as Albus started shoving the food into his mouth Scorpius could literary see how he was brought back to life. But then he heard voices behind him. The other first years from the common room were coming towards them. There were seven people. And they clumsily sat down right next to Albus and Scorpius.

"Hey. You're Malfoy and you're Potter, right?" said the girl who had won the chess game, "I'm Sophie Swan."

Albus looked rather offended by this sudden company. The fact that they all started introducing themselves seemed to mean they wanted to stay too. Scorpius didn't mind getting some company, but socializing wasn't really of his nature. He shyly told them his name but then he didn't say much more.

Albus didn't talk to them much either. It was a very awkward situation where they sat all together, but the other seven only talked to each other and the remaining two just exchanged confused looks.

"So may I ask you... Do you have girlfriends?"

At first Scorpius didn't even notice the question was for him, but when Swan started poking his arm he understood the hint.

"Oh you mean me? No, I don't", he said quickly.

"And you, Potter?"

"Nope", said Albus shortly.

 "Well I understand it must be hard to you to you know... find someone. Especially you, Malfoy. I mean, not many people these days would like to date _his_ son, right?" Swan made an attempt to sound pitiful, but more than anything she seemed very amused at this. Something about her reminded an awful lot about Moaning Myrtle. Her hands ran through her hair, twisting the locks as she waited for a response.

"Ehm... actually I'm not _his_ son at all..." said Scorpius quietly.

Albus seemed to be boiling with anger. Swan seemed even more amused now, and she opened her mouth to say something, but Albus cut her off right away.

"Shut up and leave us alone", said Albus coldly and raised from the bench. He grabbed Scorpius arm and pulled him along out of the hall. Behind them the others were laughing and clapping their hands.

"You have already disappointed your parents enough, haven't you, so why not be fags and date each other too?! You won't have any other choices anyways! " shouted Swan and they laughed even more.

That night Albus couldn't sleep due to the raging anger he felt because of what they had said about Scorpius. Scorpius himself wasn't actually mad. More like... confused. He was confused how people could actually be like that, think like that. How could they even think he was the son of a dark lord who died _years_ ago? But what was also on his mind was the last comment Swan had yelled at them. Why did he feel even more hurt about that?

 

 


	3. Chapter 3

Scorpius knew before even coming to Hogwarts that his life there wouldn't be as simple as for the other students. This "wonderfulness" that people talked about didn't exactly apply to an old deatheater's son - who on top of that was rumoured to be the son of Lord Voldemort.

Scorpius spent most of his time as a a child at home. Though his home was a lot bigger and fancier than other kid's, it was lonely. His father Draco said it was for his own good to not go out or bring people home. At the time he was clueless and yet unharmed by the harsh reality that awaited him on the other side of the garden gate. He found out for the first time that he was different when he was eight. He was playing in the garden when a family walked by at the street.

 _"Look. This it where the Malfoys live. Oh... That must be Draco Malfoy's son!",_ had the father of the family said and looked at Scorpius.

 _"I didn't know he had a son. Poor thing",_ said the mother. She looked at Scorpius and looked genuinely concerned.

_"It isn't certain that he's actually Draco's though. Heard it's even worse, but let's not talk about that."_

_"Daddy, can I play with him?"_ asked the daughter and pointed. She seemed to be around Scorpius age at the time, possibly a little younger. She tried to walk closer to the garden to peek  in through the gate, but her mother quickly grabbed her hand and stopped her.

_"Absolutely not. You must stay away from this place."_

Eventually, as he grew older, he learned more about the past of his family. His parents themselves never really told him anything. But he overheard a lot of conversations and he read about it in the Daily Phropet almost every month ever since he learned how to read. By the time he turned eleven and boarded the Hogwarts express for the first time he already knew what awaited him and he was ready to take it on.

 

**First year, 19th October**

 

When Albus woke up the next morning he seemed to have forgotten everything that occurred the last evening. Scorpius had too. They got dressed as usual and headed off to the Great Hall for breakfast. Only thing different was that they avoided Sophie Swan and her friends at the table.

"So what do we have today?" asked Scorpius.

"First class is charms. Second is herbology. Then I don't know. Still haven't learned the schedule by heart", said Albus.

Charms was actually one of the few classes Albus enjoyed. He was a bit grumpy for a while after the failed _Wingardium Leviosa_ -lesson, but as soon as he got hang of the spell and succeeded very well the following lessons, he started to have rather fun in the class. Professor Flitwick was way more interesting than Professor Binns too.

At today's lesson they continued practising  _Locomotor Mortis,_ an utterly funny spell to practice actually. It made the class seem like a funny game.

" _Locomortor Mortis!"_ yelled a Ravenclaw boy and pointed his wand at his friend. The spell worked and the legs of the hit person instantly got stuck together, making her losing her balance and falling over. The whole classroom echoed of laughter.

"Very well done!" said Professor Flitwick happily.

Scorpius and Albus took turns throwing the spell at each other. The first time Scorpius tried something went wrong so Albus left leg started jumping furiously without him being able to to control it. Scorpius stomach hurt for days after laughing so much. By now they had gotten better though and the spell actually worked as it was supposed to do. Unlocking the legs was another deal though, so they got Flitwick to help them.

 

Even though the Slytherins had herbology together with the Gryffindors, both Scorpius and Albus were in a good mood when they went down the hill to the greenhouses. It had stopped raining since yesterday and it wasn't as cold. The weather was actually quite pleasant. And the Gryffindor student were actually quite nice, it was mainly just that Albus found it awkward to have classes his his cousin Rose and to meet the house he was "supposed" to be in.

"Welcome everybody! Can everybody hear me?" said Neville Longbottom, who happened to be a Hogwarts teacher now a days.

The students shut quiet.

"OK, good. Can we start? Today you see we'll do some practical investigations of Devil's Snares. Quite dangerous plats, these. But we'll be fine. And I'm telling you already, in case I forget to tell you at the end of the lesson, there will be homework about this since I won't have time to explain the uses and such about the Snares. You find all information that you need at page 22-28. Everybody got that? 22-28, if you forget just ask your friend. I want you to read it and write a short text about what you've learned, really simply. One page, no more. Okay? Good", said professor Longbottom, sounding exited as ever.

The class didn't seem as exited about this, especially not about the homework. Scorpius was okay with it though. He loved sitting in the library, surrounded by all the bookshelves and study. It was oddly relaxing.

"Team up two and two please and then I'll give you further information on this task!"

Albus and Scorpius exchanged agreeing looks. But then someone patted Albus on his shoulder. It was Rose Granger-Weasley.

"Albus. You're with me today, is that okay?" she said.

"Eh... Actually -"

"I know you wanted to be with Malfoy, but I need to talk to you", she said.

Albus was about to start arguing with her, but she looked dead serious so he gave in. Albus looked excusing at Scorpius, but Scorpius just waved it off. He knew what Rose Granger-Weasley was like. If she wanted to talk, she would get her talk. And Scorpius got along alright with the boys they shared dorm with so he didn't have to be alone anyways.

 

Rose pulled Scorpius along to a part of the table where there weren't as many people. Of course Scorpius was curious about what she had to talk to Albus about, but he already knew. Or at least he thought that he knew. This was probably just another of her many attempts to convince Albus to find other friends than Scorpius or to ask the Sorting Hat to re-sort him into Gryffindor instead.

As soon as all students had started working on the task Neville had given them Rose leaned in to talk to Albus. She was very close to his face and spoke quietly so nobody could hear them. Scorpius couldn't read her lips to understand the context either.

"Hey, what does this mean? Do you know, Malfoy?" said Sam, the boy Scorpius was now working with instead.

"Oh sorry... ehm... let me see here..." stuttered Scorpius, slightly embarrassed that he spaced out too much.

Scorpius and Sam finished the task smoothly and Neville gave them a thumbs up at the end of the lesson. Albus and Rose had talked the entire lesson and weren't even half way done when the class was over. Lucky them Neville happened to be an old family friend and couldn't scold them, but he did sigh disappointedly when they walked past him out of the greenhouse.

As soon as they got out, Rose and Albus went separate ways. Rose went with her Gryffindor friends and Albus joined Scorpius.

"What was that all about?" asked Scorpius as they started walking up the hill.

"That girl from yesterday, Sophie Swan."

"Yeah?"

"Well she's been having fun today spreading some more rumours about us. As if we needed more of those..." muttered Albus.

"So... What is she saying?"

"Now apparently the entire school thinks we're dating", said Albus. He didn't look at Scorpius when he said it but just looked straight forward in a very awkward way. Since Albus seemed awkward Scorpius did too. His cheeks heated slightly and he didn't really know what to say.

"Ehm... okay. At least she's creative I guess", he said at last.

"Yeah", said Albus and then they walked silently the rest of the way.

It felt very unfamiliar to be like this with Albus. Usually they had no taboos with each other. Nothing was really awkward between them. Scorpius had opened up to him a lot more than he had even done with anybody else and they understood each other better than anybody else. Scorpius couldn't think of any particular reason they were like this now but he hoped it would stop soon because he didn't like it at all. Maybe Albus was uncomfortable thinking of dating? They were only eleven after all. Or maybe he was uncomfortable thinking of dating Scorpius? Scorpius couldn't blame him, they were only friends after all.

He tried to seek out to Albus by looking at him, hoping that Albus would look back and they would start laughing about the tension - but Albus didn't look.


	4. Chapter 4

**First year, 19th October**

Now Scorpius was in shock. The entire school was. Everything had just turned quiet.

Scorpius wasn't sure how they got here. What just happened. What he had just done.

Albus had been awkward ever since the herbology. It had started to really get to Scorpius. This silence and awkwardness. It wasn't supposed to be there. Not between him and Albus. Scorpius himself had actually started to get mad, something very unusual. Or else he was just scared. Hard to tell. But these emotions, the discomfort and frustration, was boiling inside. He did manage to not let it show. But then when they went to the Great Hall for dinner she had been there. Sophie Swan and all of her friends. Actually she had been there all day since she was also a first year Slytherin, but with teachers all around nobody could do anything.

And then they walked by she slightly raised her voice. Just enough so they could hear what they were talking about.

"I even saw them kissing in the corridor once", she said. Even though she was talking to her friends it was clear that her attention was fully on Albus, waiting for him to react.

And react he did.

"CUT IT OUT YOU FREAK!!" yelled Albus at her.

"NOBODY CALLS ME A FREAK!" she yelled back, rose from the table and swung her fist towards Albus.

At this point Scorpius didn't think. He just knew. He wasn't going to let that fist touch Albus. So he pulled out his wand and something just happened.

Swan was thrown away from the ground. Screaming. And then she hit the floor a few feet back. The crashing sound of body against stone brought him back to his senses. And without hesitation he ran forward to her in panic.

"No. Wait. This wasn't - . I promise, I didn't intend this to -. No. Please", he stuttered. His heart was banging so loudly in his chest that he couldn't hear all the voices. The silence had been broken and there was no end to it. He could hear every syllable of every word, but he couldn't really grasp the meaning of it. All that was in his mind now was ' _may this girl be fine'_.

Scorpius stretched out a shaking hand towards her still body and slightly pushed at her arm, begging to whatever would listen, that she would move. She turned her face upwards towards Scorpius. Scorpius had probably never felt more relived. But there was blood all over, coming from both her mouth and nose. It was pouring down, making both her robe and the floor a mess. And she was crying.

Like this she didn't seem like a school bully at all. Like this... Scorpius seemed like a school bully instead. And that tore in him.

"LOOK AT HER! LOOK WHAT HE DID!" yelled a boy.

"Oh my... Easy easy! Calm down everyone!"

Scorpius turned around. A Hufflepuff boy was entering the Great Hall, and along him he had brought headmaster McGonnagall. She looked surprised but calm as ever. She hurried towards Scorpius and Swan.

"HE THREW A SPELL AT HER!"

"HE'S CRAZY!"

Scorpius looked back at fourth between Swan and McGonnagall. He heard the people yelling. And he saw Albus staring in panic. Their eyes met and they both knew. They screwed up for real this time.

"I promise, professor... I didn't mean this to happen..." stuttered Scorpius. He could feel his eyes tear up. He had hurt someone. Like an animal he had just lost all the control. It wasn't like him at all. Was he hexed? What happened to him?

"Shhh, Malfoy. We'll talk about this later", said McGonnagall, then turned to the Slytherin table, "Ms Petersen, could you help ms Swan to the hospital wing?"

Petersen was a tiny girl with square shaped glasses. She looked fragile and scared. Not really the type you would think someone like Sophie Swan would spend her time with. Petersen nodded and quickly ran over to help Swan on her feet. Then they walked out the Great Hall, leaving blood tracks behind.

As soon as the doors closed all eyes were back at Scorpius.

All this attention that he had worked so hard to get rid off. The disappointment in their eyes. The fear. Scorpius had no idea what to do. He was sure this wasn't the first time a student had pulled their wands in a fight, but to think _he_ did it was unbelievable. He felt like a complete monster.

McGonagall put her hand at his shoulder and lead him out of the hall. Albus followed after, trying to keep it up with the headmaster and his friend.

"Actually it was my fault, professor!" yelled Albus.

McGonagall didn't answer. She continued to walk at the same pace and with the same firm facial expression. Scorpius and Albus had never been to the headmasters office before, but they knew that's where they were heading now.

"I sorry!" cried Scorpius.

He knew his father would be mad about this. Maybe not about the attack, but about how he was so weak he even cried in public. But Scorpius couldn't help it. All this guilt was too overflowing. And the whole situation had gone from 0 to 100 in just a second, there was no time to prepare or think.

The door to McGonagalls office opened. For a moment it seemed like she would shut the door before Albus got in, but she didn't. When both the boys were inside she closed it and sat down on her chair behind a desk filled with various different papers and letters.

She looked stern but not exactly mean.

"So could you too maybe explain what this fuss is all about?" she said.

Albus and Scorpius looked at each other. Who would begin and how?

"Ehm... well... Swan has been saying some stuff about us that we didn't exactly appreciate", said Albus quietly. He looked down at his feet to not meet McGonagalls eyes, "And I got mad at her..."

"And Swan was just about to punch Albus so I just... did something", said Scorpius and dried his eyes on the robe sleeve. His eyes were already red at this point, which was even more obvious due to his other wisely pale skin.

McGonagall sighed.

"Well this isn't the first time something like this occurs, I can ensure you. But I wish for you both to not let this happen again and I will have to give you a punishment", she said, "I already have one troublemaker Potter to deal with at this school. I don't need two of them."

Albus knew that she was talking about James. He couldn't help but to giggle a little at it. He could just imagine how many times James had been at this office for all imaginable different reasons. Maybe he was after all in his blood to get locked up in trouble.

 

It was completely empty outside the office. No students ever really came here if it wasn't to see the McGonagall.

"Hey Scorpius... I'm sorry I got you into this", said Albus after a while.

"Don't be. It wasn't your fault. I was the one who lost the control", said Scorpius.

"No really... If I hadn't been so reckless you wouldn't have done it either. So I'm sorry. No let's go back to the dungeon."

They walked in silence, but this time it wasn't an awkward silence.

 

When they reached the Slytherin dungeons they agreed that that they didn't want to sit in the common room right now so they just walked straight into the sleeping hall where they could be alone.

Scorpius sat down on his bed and took off his shoes. Then he curled up in the blanket and just breathed for a moment. He had calmed down at last. Maybe what he did wasn't that bad actually. It could have been way worse, and just like McGonagall had said it was certainly not the first time. Probably not the last time either.

Albus sat down on Scorpius bed. Then he leaned in to hug the blanket ball in which somewhere his friend was to be found.

"I really like you, you know..." he murmured.

"Mm. I really like you too, Albus. That's why I didn't want you to be hit. You're my best friend after all."

Scorpius tried to sneak his arms out of the blanket to hug Albus back. Usually they didn't hug. But this was just the right moment to do it, and honestly it felt good. It was warm and nice. And he could sense the scent of Albus hair when they were this close.

He loved that scent.

 


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello ~  
> First off, thank you all for reading, leaving kudos and commenting. Makes me so happy every time <3
> 
> Secondly, I am back to school again now so I probably won't have as much time for writing as I had before. I will try to update regularly but yeah... there will probably be times when I don't update in a while.

**First year, October 30th**

The punishment that the boys had been given wasn't actually as bad as they thought. As for Albus, he was supposed to sort out books in the potions classroom. Scorpius on the other hand was supposed to clean the portraits from dust (without magic!) in a basement corridor he had actually never been in before. None of these tasks were particularly fun, but it could have been worse, they thought.

The word about Scorpius rage had spread quickly all around the school, but just a couple of day later things were back to normal again. Miss Swan never dared to say a word about Albus or Scorpius again, so even the rumour about the two being in love eventually died out.

Scorpius picked up the cleaning supplies that he needed from a little cupboard and then went down the stairs to the corridor.

The corridor was dark compared to the ones above ground level, but some candles lit it up just enough to be a cozy darkness. It actually surprised Scorpius he hadn't found this place earlier. He and Albus could have hid here when they wanted to get away from people instead of just awkwardly avoiding them in the crowded places.

Now it didn't matter much though. Halloween was tomorrow and both Albus and Scorpius agreed to that going home was the better option.

Scorpius actually hadn't sent his family many letters, like he thought he would do. He couldn't really tell them about school and if not school - what would he tell them about? Two weeks after the school start Scorpius had made an attempt to write a letter to his father about befriending Albus, but no matter how many times he tried to rewrite the sentences it never turned out the way he wanted it. And if he couldn't tell his father about Albus, there was no chance to write about anything else either. No matter what he did Albus was always there. And mr Draco Malfoy would not be happy about it if he knew.

Scorpius picked up a towel and started brushing off the dust from the closest painting. There was plenty of dust and it was assumable that nobody had cleaned here in a long while.

He hummed to himself while moving on to the next paintings. It was actually very relaxing and Scorpius could actually not see how this was supposed to be his punishment.

 

He met up with Albus in the staircase later on. The clock was already 8pm and the castle was very calm at this time. All the other student were already back in their common rooms either chilling or packing their bags for going home with the train at 10pm for halloween.

"So how did it go for you?" asked Scorpius.

"Fine I guess. Boring. You?"

"Just fine."

They went quiet and just looked at each other. Scorpius desperately looked for something to say but then Albus awkwardly just coughed.

"Ehm... I know halloween isn't like christmas... but... yeah. It's nothing big really... ehm. Here", he said and pulled a little box out of his robe pocket.

 

Scorpius confusedly took the box. He opened it and inside there was some rare brand wizarding sweets and a little card with a pumpkin on.

"Oh Albus, thank you so much", he said and smiled brightly.

"I just thought that you like sweets so much", chuckled Albus and itched his neck shyly.

Scorpius picked up the card. It said  _Happy halloween buddy. From Albus._ He had never really gotten a gift from a friend before. It was simple and the handwriting was ugly, but Scorpius absolutely adored it.

"Thank you again. I'm sorry that I don't have any -"

"No problem, don't worry about it", said Albus, "Let's just go down to pack now."

 

They packed their bags fairly quickly. They didn't have to bring all of their stuff home just for the weekend anyways. The present Scorpius had received from Albus was carefully put on top of everything else so it wouldn't get damaged on the ride.

They left their bags in the dorm for the house elves to pick them up and went down to the boats that would bring them back to the train station.

It felt strange to sit in the boat, riding across the lake, knowing that underneath all that water somewhere the Slytherin dungeon was located. It was also strange to see the Hogwarts castle from this perspective. Somehow the castle looked so majestic like this.

The train station wasn't as crowded as it had been when they first arrived at Hogwarts, but many of the kids were about to go home for the holidays. Scorpius felt kind of bad for the people that had no other choice but to stay, though he could imagine the castle to be very cozy at those times.

They went onboard and quickly picked some seats where nobody else sat.

"Albus, does your parents know you are friends with me?" asked Scorpius as the train started moving.

"Mum probably knows. Dad's pretty dumb to be honest, so he probably doesn't have a clue", said Albus.

"Did you write them a letter or something?"

"Nah. Actually _I_ haven't told them yet. But you know, like 50% of the school is made up by my relatives so some of them probably have", said Albus.

He carelessly ran his fingers through his bangs and looked out the window. Outside it was dark, but not yet pitch black. The landscape out here was very pretty, but it looked all the same. Trees, some fields, a little lake every now and then...

 

"Does your parents know?"

"Not yet. I don't know how to tell them. I mean... I don't actually think my father hates your family, but... _strongly dislikes_. I just don't know how he well react", said Scorpius.

"Maybe you don't have to tell them just yet?" said Albus.

"Mm. Eventually I will. But maybe now is still not the time."

It felt weird that to most people, Scorpius and Albus were not supposed to be best friends. To others, they were supposed to be _enemies_. The thought of hating Albus made him feel sick, and even more sickening was the thought of Albus hating him. In a way, Scorpius found himself attached to Albus. It was like they were just ment to be, in a way that he couldn't really explain. It just felt like he belonged there next to him.

 

Scorpius knocked at the door and waited for a response. He could see a figure moving towards the door through the door window. Then the door opened. It was his mother, Astoria. She smiled happily to see her son and embraced him tightly. Scorpius could barely breath, but he was also happy to see her.

She had gotten skinnier since last time he saw her. And her skin had gotten duller. It almost had a gray tone by now. And her eyes looked emptier. It was a quite miserable sight.

Draco Malfoy on the other hand looked just like he had done when he waved Scorpius goodbye at the King's Cross station a few weeks earlier. His blonde hair was perfectly combed and his clothes well put together.

"Welcome back home, Scorpius!" said Astoria when she finally let go of the boy.

"Have you had a good time?" asked Draco.

"Yeah", said Scorpius.

"You can tell us more about it later. Go leave your stuff in your room and take a shower first", said Draco.

 

The three of them sat around the kitchen table, which by the way was way to big for just three people, and drank some tea. Scorpius told them all about the lessons and the teachers and that he did well in all classes. But he couldn't bring himself to tell them about Albus. His parents looked so proud. He couldn't ruin that for them so he just censored the very best thing about Hogwarts out.

"That sounds great, Scorpius", said Astoria. She sounded happy but tired. Weak.

"Let's go to bed", said Draco and looked worried at his wife. She nodded and stood up with a little help from Draco. Scorpius didn't know how to react to this. His mother had really gotten worse in just a few weeks. If her illness would continue at this rate she'd be in a horrible condition by the time Scorpius came back home for the Christmas holidays.

Scorpius walked back to his bedroom, feeling down about Astoria but glad about his parents being proud of him.

He sat down at the edge of the bed and looked around. Everything was familiar. The house elves really hadn't touched a thing when he was away, just like he told them.

The desk was still messy. There were books, articles and notes everywhere. All those nerdy things that Scorpius loved collected at the same spot. Lovely. And the bookshelf was also a mess. There were way too many books pressed together in too little space. And on the walls there were still pictures from the chocolate frogs and cool stuff he had cut out of magazines. The room smelled the same too.

Just before going to bed Scorpius opened his bag and took out the gift from Albus. He read the card over and over again, smiling to himself.

_And then he understood why he hadn't at all been upset with Sophie Swan's rumour._


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TIME SKIP SURPRISE WHOOP WHOOP

**Fifth year, September 1st**

"Dad I'm leaving now. Bye", said Albus.

The Hogwarts Express was about to leave. Scorpius had waved at him through the window of the train so he knew where to sit. It was harder than expected to even get on the train though. Wizards and witches were all running around, greeting their families goodbye, meeting up with their friends. Some of them for the very first time.

Albus could clearly remember his first time going on the train. He was nervous. Well, who wouldn't be nervous? But being the son of Harry Potter was different. Him screwing up would be worse than anybody else screwing up. And now you'd think that some reliable old friend would come tap your shoulder and tell you everything's going to be fine, and then everything actually did turn out fine and all those things you were afraid of never actually happened. But that certainly wasn't the case for Albus Severus Potter who was sorted into Slytherin exactly four years ago and his biggest fear became a reality.

He wasn't what people wanted him to be, he knew that. It didn't matter how many times his parents tried to ensure him they loved him regardless. He just knew it. However he had learned to live with it. And he had found somebody who actually did, true to heart, love him regardless. Scorpius Malfoy, the purest little guy the world had to offer who just happened to be born with the curse of guilt.

Albus had missed Scorpius plenty during the summer. Even though his parents didn't really mind them being friends, Albus could still sense a slight awkwardness every time he brought it up. To invite him over during the holidays were still beyond reality.

They had written loads though. Albus poor owl Jojo were probably very exhausted by now. He had flied with new letters to Scorpius almost every day. Scorpius had spent his summer at the Malfoy family's summer house on the countryside in Southern England while Albus had mainly stayed at home, other than a week that he spent with his relatives on the Weasley side of his family.

Albus took a big step onto the train. It was almost impossible to walk in the narrow corridors since there were so many people. After using a decent amount of force he managed to reach the compartment in which Scorpius sat.

"Hey", he said.

"Hello there", said Scorpius.

He got up from his seat and hugged him. This was a habit they had developed gradually ever since Scorpius had cursed a girl for Albus sake in their first year. Albus didn't mind at all. He liked Scorpius, he really did. He probably knew it even back then too, but it wasn't until Christmas last year that he realized his liking was beyond friendship. Friends usually don't try to trick each other to stand underneath mistletoes, he figured. Hugging each other though, was perfectly normal even though it was more common among female friends.

Albus sat down at the seat opposite to Scorpius. His face had gotten more mature in the summer. Scorpius was still cute, but he had lost some of his puppy-ness. His hair had gotten a bit lighter too, probably due to the sun bleaching it.

"Even though holidays are great I actually feel kind of exited about going back to school", said Scorpius as the train started moving.

Albus gave him a skeptical look.

"Really?"

"Yeah. There are more tests this year. O.W.L, you know. People will be busy with studying instead of messing with us this year", said Scorpius.

Honestly Albus hadn't even given the O.W.L a second of thought before. Well, he did know that they'd come eventually, but to think that the time was already here was somewhat of a surprise.

"That sound... great I suppose?" he said and smiled.

 

Something was oddly comforting about being a fifth year student. Albus and Scorpius were now on the older half of the school. They knew the ways of school, the teachers and the castle. It felt like a whole new sense of respect was gained automatically as they became older. Albus liked that.

Albus loved it when he could confidently sit at the table at the opening ceremony and watch the nervous first years panic as they were one by one called up to the sorting hat. This amusement couldn't have been anything but simply his Slytherin state of mind.

Scorpius sat next to him and seemed actually amused, but not in the same way as Albus. Scorpius just seemed to enjoy the ceremony and how important this moment were to all the first years whose entire future was now determined.

 _What a kind soul_ , Albus thought to himself and giggled at Scorpius sparkling facial expression.

"What?" whispered Scorpius.

"Nothing", Albus waved off.

When all the students were sorted into the houses, headmaster McGonagall stepped forward on the podium. She looked the same as she had always done. A firm facial expression even though she was smiling, glasses, a long robe and a magnificent hat on top of her head.

"Good evening students", she began, "I welcome you back to another year at Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizarding. And as for you first years, I welcome you to our school." Then she spoke as expected from a headmaster, about the rules, study motivation, future and ambition.

Sounded great, thought Albus, but he knew himself better than to think he would actually study that much anyways. He just wanted to pass the tests and not get expelled, that's it. Scorpius on the other hand was intelligent and had a passion for knowledge. If you didn't know him you would probably have thought he was a Ravenclaw.

When McGonagall had finished the Great Hall burst into applauds and cheers. Then the feast meal began.

 

Scorpius and Albus walked to the dungeons alongside with the other Slytherins. The first years looked absolutely terrified about the idea to be in the cold, dark undergrounds of Hogwarts. Albus wanted to tell them it wasn't as bad as it seemed, but decided not to. They'd figure it out for themselves soon enough.

As soon as they went into the common room the first years faces actually softened up. The fire, the sofas and the tables. It was all very cozy.

Even though Albus time at Hogwarts hadn't been as pleasant as he had hoped for as a kid, he couldn't deny that he absolutely loved to sit in the common room, late at night, spending time with Scorpius. To Scorpius those were probably just studying sessions rather than socializing, but in that case they were undoubtedly the friendliest studying sessions of all time.

They walked to their sleeping hall.

"Same beds as last year, ok?" said Sam, one of the boys they shared to room with.

"Okay", the others answered.

They had had the same beds ever since the first year. They felt like their own belongings and sometimes they could even get a bit protective about it if someone were to sit on their bed without permission. Other than that, the Slytherin boys got along quite well. To say that they were close would have been a lie, but sometimes they would stay up for a bit and talk and it was enjoyable.

This night they did, but only for a while, talking about the upcoming year. About O.W.L, about being older and what they hoped for to happen.

All Albus had in mind was if this was going to be the year he and Scorpius would take another step or not.

 

 

 


	7. Chapter 7

**Fifth year, 4 November**

Even though Albus knew for a fact that he wouldn't by any chance have been able to pass to O.W.L tests at the time, he still somehow wished that the exams would have been early on. It was hard to focus. He couldn't really think. The tests wouldn't start until spring, but the students were already preparing like crazy.

The classroom was more silent, the library more crowded and even the students who would usually slack off in class were now paying attention, taking notes like crazy. Albus couldn't recall the now sixth years students being this way last year, but that might also have been because he had other things filling up his mind.

Now, the issue was that even though it was now his turn to take the exams, his mind was _still_ filled up with other things, things that to others would have been considered  _unimportant_ things. Like Scorpius for instance. Or actually... only Scorpius. Scorpius was what was on his mind, and the oblivious blonde probably had know idea and just thought Albus had gotten even stupider over summer. "It's your damn fault", Albus thought to himself at several occasions but at the still time he couldn't be mad at him. He was mainly just mad at himself for letting things get to this point. This was certainly not the way he had planned out things to go.

At this time, 17:30, a Thursday in November, Albus and Scorpius were sitting in the library like many of their classmates. The two still preferred to stick a little to themselves, but they weren't as much outsiders as they used to be. If they wanted to sit by someone else's table, they most likely could if they just asked. This time they sat a bit off next to a window.

Outside it was already dark and it had begun to rain. The day however had been very clear and beautiful. Albus and Scorpius had spent the free time between the lessons outside, either on the school yard or on the grass hill. The leaves were nicely coloured in various shades of yellow, orange and red and the air was fresh.

They had gotten tons of homework in both defense against the dark arts, potions and transfiguration. Mercy was a concept unknown to the professors of Hogwarts.

The table was full of books and pergament. Some of the pergament were filled up with notes and letters while some were still clean, waiting for either Scorpius or Albus to write something. If you were a piece of pergament you'd probably want to be written on by Scorpius. He wrote beautifully, using advanced vocabulary (sometimes a little too old-fashioned according to Albus, but then they'd laugh about because they knew that it wasn't too old-fashioned, it was just that Albus wasn't educated enough to know the meaning of the words) while Albus wrote sloppily and extremely slowly as he needed a break between pretty much every sentence that he wrote.

"Where did you get that intelligence from?" Albus asked and laid his head down on top the book spread before him.

"It's not intelligence, it's _interest_ ", answered Scorpius without looking up from his own book, "If you just cared you'd be able to to this just as well as I am."

"Highly doubt that", muttered Albus.

"What is it that you don't understand then?"

"I don't anything anything."

"Anything of what?"

"Anything."

"You're saying you understand absolutely _nothing_?" This time Scorpius looked up, looked at Albus and raised one eyebrow in disbelief, "I don't buy that."

"I'm serious! What is this even? How am I supposed to know?!" Albus sat up again, pointed angrily at the book.

"We _did_ have two entire lessons on the topic, Albus!" said Scorpius, laughing at Albus hopelessness.

"I still don't get it though..." Albus pouted.

"Hey, I'll help you", said Scorpius, closed his own book and leaned in towards Albus to read out of his book instead. Albus froze on the spot.

Even though Albus appreciated that Scorpius was helping him out, he still couldn't get a grip about what he was talking about. He could clearly see that Scorpius was actually talking to him, his lips moved and his tongue formed sounds. But it made no sense. All that echoed inside his head was "way too close. way too close. way to close." His head was so occupied with this thought that he even forgot how to breath.

"... and that's why."

Scorpius finished, looking at Albus to get a response. Albus inhaled. Oxygen. Finally.

"Eh. OK. Sounds great", he said stupidly.

"You still don't get it, do you?" Scorpius laughed.

"Nope", said Albus honestly.

"Well, let me put it another way... Look here", said Scorpius and pointed in the book. Albus leaned in towards the book, and so did Scorpius so they could read it together. In one way Albus wanted this to stop, in another way he craved it more than anything. He didn't even need oxygen anymore at this point. He could just live on this moment forever and always instead.

Even though he was supposed to look in the book he couldn't help but to look at Scorpius face instead. It was so close. Albus could see the tiny impurities of his skin that he wouldn't notice otherwise. He could see the softly curved eyelashes, the little mole on his chin, the wrinkles around his eyes...

Scorpius lifted his head and turned it over to face Albus without saying anything. They just looked at each other.

Again, Albus entire head panicked. There was just a few centimeters of air between them. That was practically nothing! It would have been so easy to just lean in and...

"Hello, you guys!" yelled a voice.

Albus was abruptly brought back to reality. Rose Granger-Weasley was heading for their table, her red toned hair just as soaked as her robe and scarf. She left wet tracks behind her on the floor as she went.

"Hi Rose", said Albus awkwardly.

He could feel his heat slightly heat up. For what reason he didn't know, but there were probably several of them. The fact that he _could_ have kissed Scorpius just a moment ago, the fact that actually _wanted_ to kiss Scorpius just a moment ago or the fact that he just got caught by his _cousin_ almost kissing Scorpius just a moment ago.

"Soooo... are you studying?" she asked, taking her scarf off.

"Yeah", answered Albus.

Scorpius lifted a hand shyly.

"Hi Rose", he said.

"Hi Scorpius", she said.

It had taken them some time to get to this point. Scorpius was very aware that she didn't _like_ him, but she didn't particularly _dislike_ him either anymore. She had just come to accept his existence and friendship with Albus. Even though she probably wouldn't admit it if so her life depended on it, she was actually a bit happy that Albus had Scorpius and didn't have to bare with loneliness for all these years.

Rose sat down at an empty chair. She didn't seem to have any intentions to study but simply just to hang out.

"Were you outside just now?" asked Scorpius, looking at her hair, robe and scarf.

"Oh... yes I was", she said.

"How come?"

Albus loved Scorpius for this. Even though he was shy, awkward and a bit odd at times, he still tried his best to socialize and be friendly with everybody. He had gotten cut off by Rose (as well as many other people) so many times that Albus had started to worry if Scorpius would ever dare to talk again. But somehow he always did. Maybe he retreated at the moment, just listening passively, but in a while he'd be back to normal and do his best again.

"James was sneaking around and found a new creature behind Hagrid's house. He said it looked really dangerous and got everybody in the Gryffindor tower all hyped about it, so we decided to go out and have a look", explained Rose.

"What was it then?" asked Albus curiously.

"Nothing extra ordinary really. James was exaggerating again", she sighed.

"He sure likes so sneak around, doesn't he?" said Scorpius.

"James? Oh yes, he does. Always been that way", said Rose.

 

"Has he ever found anything interesting though?" sighed Albus.

He could remember endless of times that James had come back from his little adventures and been all excited about telling his siblings about it, but when everything came around it was rarely anything interesting at all.

Rather than sneaking around, Albus liked it better when James pranked people. Sneaking around and pranking wasn't exactly the same even though both hobbies usually got him locked up in trouble with elders, both parents, strangers and teachers. When pranking, James was in full control and could make all kinds of things happen. Imagination was the only limit for the guy.

"Actually he did find something very interesting a while ago! I don't know if it's true though..." said Rose.

When neither Albus or Scorpius said anything, Rose continued:

"Apparently he found a letter at professor McGonagall's office last time he was sent there. It was regarding a reunion."

Albus and Scorpius exchanged confused looks.

"Reunion?"

"Yes."

"Reunion of what?"

Rose went quiet as if she was thinking about what to say. She had a quirky smile or her face. Then she leaned in towards the boys and in a whispering tone she said:

"Well, we're not sure of course... but it seems like it is a reunion between hogwarts and the other wizarding schools."

 


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> School is more time consuming than I expected, I'm really tired at the moment so this chapter turned out rather messy, sorry for that. Hurray for time skips though!! Expect more of that in the future. I gotta fill in some of the things that happened between the first year and fifth year skip.

**Fifth year, November 4**

"So what does this mean?" asked Scorpius.

He and Albus were getting ready for bed. The other room mates were still in the common room so it was just the two of them.

"I don't know. But don't get too high expectations. James does mess with people quite a lot, as you know. This might just be a prank", said Albus.

"Yeah, maybe", Scorpius agreed, "But _if_  it's true though, what do you feel about it?"

Albus pulled the pajama shirt over his head.

"Ehm... It's cool, I guess? My uncle married a former Beuxbatons student. She has told me some things about it. Seems nice", said Albus.

Fleur had showed him and his siblings some pictures last Christmas from her time at the school. It seemed very different from Hogwarts, but different didn't necessarily mean bad. It looked cool, but Albus cringed at just the thought of being a student there himself. It seemed so uptight. Too perfect. Too polite. Too elegant. And in the pictures all students carried themselves with a straight back and a striking smile. Albus really didn't suit that image. He was way to grumpy and laid back.

"My family seem to fancy Durmstrang. Or at least grandpa", said Scorpius. He sneaked in under the blanket and started turning over to find a comfortable position.

"But the question remains though... why would they have a reunion after all these years? They won't have another tournament, will they? They banned them years ago, right?" said Albus.

"Maybe just for fun.. or in an educational way, like a cultural exchange or something? Learn about magic from other countries? I don't know!" said Scorpius.

It made sense. Thinking about it, Albus actually knew very little about wizards from other parts of the world. Sometimes it felt like magic was only limited to Great Britain. The thought of Japanese wizards, or South African wizards, or maybe Mexican wizards made him feel a bit strange. He couldn't imagine them even existing.

"Shall we ask a professor about it?" asked Scorpius.

"No, we can't do that! Remember that we are actually not supposed to know this," said Albus.

"Oh right..."

**Third year, Christmas eve**

_The house was completely filled with people. The Weasley family had been big enough already when there were seven siblings, but now when most of them had their own children the family was absolutely huge._

_In the living room stood a little Christmas tree which Lily and Hugo had decorated earlier. The two were now playing hide and seek but they were both horrible at hiding. Hugo sat behind the sofa for the third time in a row with his red hair obviously peaking out above the edge._

_In the kitchen Angelina and Ginny were helping Molly out with the food. The smell of their cooking made its way out in every corner of the house._

_Even though Albus usually felt a bit awkward at family gatherings for being the "black sheep", he couldn't deny that it was a cozy aura in the house at this time of the year. He sat in Fred and George's old room along with Rose. She was reading some old Quidditch magazine she had found in a box underneath the bed. Albus himself was just laying on the bed, staring up in the ceiling._

 

 

_Eventually Molly shouted to everybody that the food was ready. Everybody gathered and sat down on the chairs around the long table. Various delicious foods were put in front of them._

_Everybody started eating and talking. Oh George what have you been up to lately? James don't do that. Still no girlfriend Charlie? No, the dragons are more important to me. How's your studies going Rose? Wow, your new haircut suits you Fleur! The ministry of magic is a mess right now! Wow, Denmark are strong in Quidditch this year!_ _Bla... Bla... Bla... Hey Albus, how are you doing at Hogwarts?_

_Albus stiffened. George was looking right at him while shoving a sausage in his mouth. Albus had never brought up his relation with Scorpius before, but he was sure they already knew._

_"Eh... it's good. Scorpius is helping me out a lot", he said calmly._

_"Oh. Well that's good. Who's Scorpius though? Have you been friends with him before?" said George._

_Hermione, who sat next to George, seemed to have caught up the name. She turned over to join their conversation instead of Ginny and Angelina's which was getting boring anyways (Quidditch was never of Hermione's liking)._

_"Scorpius? Isn't that the Malfoy's son?" she said._

_"Eh... yes it is. His name is Scorpius Malfoy", said Albus._

_Suddenly the entire table turned their attention towards Albus, George and Hermione. It was as if the name of Malfoy was a secret code-word to bring attention. It made everyone freeze right on the spot._

_"What?" said Ron stupidly, "_ _Scorpius Malfoy? Do you know him?"_

_Albus was taken completely by surprise. Didn't they know already? Hadn't James said anything? Had_ none _of them said anything? He looked around. The others stared at him. They didn't look angry or anything, but they looked absolutely shocked. Fleur was the only one who seemed clueless._

_"Have... have nobody told you already?" asked Albus._

_Albus seeked out to James. James shrug his shoulders, as if to say 'hey don't look at me, i know nothing'. Then he seeked out to Rose. She looked somewhat sorry, as if she pitied Albus for being in this awkward situation. Then he looked at Rosanne and Fred II. They looked just like James. And when none of Albus relatives who went to Hogwarts seemed to know anything about anything, he reached the conclusion that this must be the first time they heard about Scorpius._

_"Well... ehm... yeah. I'm friends with Scorpius Malfoy. We're classmates", said Albus._

_"But... -"_

_"Like, I know what you're thinking - but he's not like that. He's great. Really", he explained quickly._

_The people around the table took another moment to proceed this._

_"Since when are you two friends?" asked Albus mother. She sounded kind, but somewhat hurt. It felt like she ment 'why haven't you told us?'. Albus felt bad for this, but it couldn't be helped. He wasn't sure how they were going to react and his relation with his parents wasn't the best to begin with. How could they expect him to drop such information when they couldn't even have any normal conversations to begin with?_

_"First day. First year", said Albus._

_Another moment of proceeding._

_"Oh... okay then. Nice that you have a friend I guess."_

 

 

**Fifth year, November 5th** _  
_

Albus woke up early. The other boys were still sleeping. Luckily none of them snored. He looked over to Scorpius bed. He looked peaceful, all wrapped up in his blanket. His hair was messy. Cute, thought Albus. Then he got up from the bed, stretched, yawned and put on his scarf to protect him from the cold. He knew already that there was no chance to fall asleep again.

He decided to take a little walk. He strongly doubted any other students were awake either, so it didn't even matter that he was walking around in the castle only dressed in pajamas.

He left the Slytherin dungeon and started walking upstairs. Just when he was about to enter ground level two ghosts flew by.

"Really exciting, this whole thing," one of them said.

"Utterly. I hope they let the students know soon enough so they can study some French beforehand though. Difficult language, French. And they are not very good at English either, as far as I know", the other ghost said.

That was all Albus needed to hear. He rushed back to the sleeping hall and woke Scorpius up. Scorpius looked confused, still sleepy and barely awake.

"Hey Scorpius, it's true!"

"What...?" he groaned.

"About the reunion! I heard the ghosts!" said Albus excitedly.

"Huh...?"

"Yeah! James was right!"

 


End file.
